ICICI Bank to invest in biometric payments startup Tapits

The bank is investing Rs 99 lakh for to take a less than 10 per cent holding in the company, which had revenues of less than Rs 1 lakh for financial year 2016-17.

The largest private sector lender ICICI Bank today said it is acquiring a minority stake in Tapits Technologies, an early stage startup that helps merchants accept digital payments through Aadhaar biometrics.

"Tapits enables merchants to accept digital payments from customers through biometric authentication using Aadhaar enabled payment system," the bank said in a regulatory filing, adding objective of the investment is to promote Aadhaar-based payments.

The bank is investing Rs 99 lakh for to take a less than 10 per cent holding in the company, which had revenues of less than Rs 1 lakh for financial year 2016-17, it said.

The transaction to buy the minority stake in the company incorporated only in April 2016 is expected to be completed by end-February 2018.

The company's website said it has a disruptive point of sale device, FingPay, which can make payments "card-less, cashless and mobile-less".